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Showing posts from November, 2008

The snow can fly now

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I finished Fireman's hat and gave it to him on Thanksgiving. See how nicely he posed for the blog? I'm thinking of finding a styrofoam head to model for the blog for me. Grace told me she found one for 3 dollars at a beauty supply store....... The Hat: HJS Studio Double Hat pattern. Google that, please. I liked the idea of the pattern because I wanted to use warm Alpaca on the outside, (berroco) and soft merino on the inside (Zara). No itch. Lots a warmth. Simple to make. I did use two yarns of slightly different gauge but it didn't seem to matter. You basically knit a hat, go back to the cast on edge and pick up the same number of stitches and knit the hat again. It looks like you are knitting for a Conehead in the process. Then you just tuck the one hat inside the other. Thankful for all of you for coming to irisheyes. Thankful for all who blog as well. I enjoy reading your blogs so much. I'll talk to you in the comments. :)

Warm Hat Wednesday: More prizes to tempt you

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Flower Power and Lunasea STR. Tempting tempting tempting! Irisheyes Lynn has generously donated to the Winter Warm Hat prizes. Thanks Lynn. So far Al wants every yarn that has been donated. I don't see a hat from her yet! School, work, just excuses I say! Remember you have until January 5th to get a hat to me for the donating. Please suggest a yarn you'd prefer if you win! My Wednesdays seem to roll around quickly. It is kind of nice for me to know that they'll be all Warm Hat Wednesdays for a while. No Post pressure for ideas! I'll talk to you in the comments. :)

Cold Turkey

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" I quit coffee creamer cold turkey nearly 3 days ago. Somehow I think this may help counter the Christmas cookie indulgences I plan on. So far so good. No cookies yet, just black coffee. The black hat for Fireman is half done. The outer black aplaca portion was just finished. Now I pick up the brim stitches and start a slightly smaller inner hat with soft merino. I've never knitted Fireman a hat before. It will not have any firefighter hat resemblences, Fireman is a fireman only at work. :) About Al's socks. The pattern is a Blackberry Woolen Mills or Ridge? pattern out of Mt. Horeb Wisconsin. She says it is well writeen. :) I'm looking for a really soft yarn. About 1100 yards. Must not itch. Any ideas my friends? Santa has a budget you know! I'll talk to you in the comments. :)

Al's sock progress

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Remember the days when Al would knit a pair of socks in 3 days? Well, not right now. She is however making nice progress on her "goat" socks for Pete. When I tried to take the image for the blog, the sun was setting and the room was dark. I more or less guessed at where I was shooting. Seems Radar decided to get in the post. Actually, because he is deaf, he is attracted to the flash of the camera. He was not sitting anywhere near then when I began to take pictures. A follow up to the bologna binge of the other day. I didnt' feel so good about an hour later........obviously my gall bladder is no longer 8 years old........(burp) I'll talk to you in the comments. :)

Warm Hat Wednesday: More prizes to tempt you

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Nice begets nice. ALL of these wonderful yarns have been gifted to the contest prize stash through the kindness of Laura from GlenCove NY. She read the plea for a lovely hat to be knitted for charity, and decided to donate prize yarns. I was again, just like I was with Anne from Wooly Wonkas, simply overwhelmed with the generosity. SO: To clarify these prizes: First, Dream in Color Smooshy in Lipstick Lava 450 yards Next: Sunshine Yarns Flamigo, 100% Merino 440 yards Next: A HARRY POTTER COLORWAY: Gryffindor, from Sunshine yarns, 440 yards merino The second frame is: Fleece Artist Basic Socks, hand dyed mernio for socks, in Teal. Two skeins of Lornas Laces Shepherd Sock superwash wool, each 215 yards, color 162: Icehouse The third frame; Posh Yarn in Limelight and Wooly Wonka Fibers 100% lambswool, Damson Plums, 875 yards laceweight I think you can send me a hat and ask for a certain prize if you wish. I'll try to accomodate. Knit on! I'll talk to you in the comments. :)

Random Blog Thoughts (after a good walk )

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Huck and I took a good walk just now. He loves this cold weather. I decided on my next hat pattern during the walk. I also decided that I am going to buy a new coat that is down and black. Then ANY handknits will go well with the black. Yes that was a revelation to me. This is my yard right now. I think it looks better now than it did all summer. I read they have solar Christmas lights. What a concept. No bulb failure/string failure, no turning lights off and on. Do you already have these? Huck eats more antioxidants than I do. He also gets glucosamine and chondroiton. My knit wrists are a bit tight lately. He also gets probiotics because Fireman gives him the empty yogurt cup to finish off every morning. He naps more than I do too. IM glad he has such a good life. THe cats are on the radiators again, because Fireman says we have to turn the heat on. When we kept it cold they sat on my lap more. I have a bit of an Antique Roadshow find going on. Just a bit. I'll

My first Charity Contest Hat....I'll refrain from winning!

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Pretend it is not a toilet paper roll cover . I did put it over a tp roll just to give you the look. This is my little child charity hat. I used the Lucky 7 cable hat pattern free on Ravelry. Then I was busy knitting at a nursing education conference and couldn't keep track of my decreases. So I decided to give it a eyelet roll and knit the top straight. Then I made a crochet eye cord which isn't an i-cord and drew the top together. This idea came from From a Rowan Classic Accessory hat. Am I making myself perfectly clear? I want all that delicious handspun from Wooly Wonka but I'm saving it all for YOU! I'll talk to you in the comments. :)

Warm Hat Wednesday: Another prize to tempt you

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Aint she somethin? Purdy, purdy, purdy. Another lovely donation from Anne At Wooly Wonka Fibers. Just one lovely hat and you can win this beauty. I'm working on my charity hat. I'll hope to finish today and show it to you tomorrow. Thanks for the good words for my travel. As a reward for my courage, I found a yarn store in the area and bought a skein. It was double what I would normally spend, but it was marked half off! SCORE! Some Alchemy Wabi-Sabi silk/wool in Pewter. As the shop folk were not too warm or wonderful, I'll refrain from the details. One other thing: Im not sure I want Lou Pinella to get the Coach of the Year award, that will be announced soon. WE STILL LOST! I'll talk to you in the comments. :)

Felted Noro Swing Coat or Turncoat to Vest

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This is the best I can do for an image this morning. Suffice to say that my dear Sonny at the cleaners tailored the swing coat with the arms I cut off, and it is now a usable, cut vest. It makes me ridiculously happy that I didnt' waste all my time, energy and MONEY on the swing coat. It just took me a while to figure out how to rescue it. From myself! I'm taking a little car trip today. My buddy Huck is coming along. I'm a bit of a nervous nellie on the expressway, I know I have to grow up before I am a senior citizen!. So think of me please. I would do fine on the expressways if they couldn't have any trucks on them. I wish they were boulevards! Lake Shore Drive is my favorite road b/c no trucks are allowed. Do you have a no truck zone you love? I'll talk to you in the comments. :)

Geode Berroco Neck Warmer for my Sister Michelle

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Neighbor Mary graciously consented to a photo op on her way to the bus stop with little Joey. I won't be surprised if I find a big old mannequin in my yard someday soon. I really should stop pestering the neighbors for blog shots. My sister, the Vet who LOVES me to knit for her, chose some yarn when we visited 3 Kittens in Minnesota a few weeks ago. She has a gene for art and color. She choose these two shades of Geode :#3659 and 3650 for a grey/blue blend. We wanted a soft washable wool. I knitted from a site on Ravelry that I have now forgotten but I remember the easy lovely pattern. You cast on a mulitple of 3 and add two stitches. You knit the first and last stitch of every row. Then the pattern: K,K, P. So K1, (K,K,P) across to the last stitch which you K again. Same on both sides. I love the look. Thanks to whoever invented this. Is anyone else having trouble adjust to the time change, now a full 5 days later? I am not alone. Huck and the cats firmly believe th

The Make a Warm Hat for Charity Contest

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I've been wanting to organize a swap for awhile now. I had some fun ideas, but in the end, I've decided I'd just like to ask for Warm Hats for adults and children. Beautiful warm hats. Sometimes we just need a little tiny nudge to do a little something extra. The weather here gets pretty brutal in the winter months. Locally, we are connected with several shelters in the city and they are asking for warm hats for those in need. I have some wonderful yarny prizes that I'll award to some lucky knit donors. This is just one of the prizes: It is Vermont Maple handpainted lace weight, donated by the very generous Anne P. at Wooly Wonka Fibers. Her blog is HowTheWestWasSpun. She was swift and sweet in her response to my asking her for a yarn donation. She sent about 10 various wonderful skeins for this cause. Let's make them really pretty okay? You have until January 5th (the day the tree comes down around here, and the time when the winter blasts go into ful

Gift bookmark from leftovers

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I fell in love with the Simpleknits.blogspot.com 653 patterns to knit with one to 285 yards of yarn. The bookmark pattern was too cute not to try. My friend Eileen, will enjoy it this Christmas. There are many many cute ideas that I will try from this extensive list. If you haven't ever seen the list, enjoy it! I spent an evening getting ideas. Oh I love to use up leftover sock yarns. :) I plan to bring my sister's cowl/scarf knitting to the polling place today when my new 18 year old voter gets home from work and school. Will you knit in line or watching the results? I'll talk to you in the comments. :)

The Modified Knitty Maze hat. Nearly done!

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The only thing left to do is sew the plastic part in part of the brim, so It is a snowboard hat. The 18 year old man is happy with his gift. :) :) I'm smitten with hats lately. You'll be seeing more of them. I found another slip stitch hat pattern last night on the web, so I will most likely try that one next. I like this slipstitch knitting. I'll tell you one of my biggest problems with the charts. You'll laugh. The Main Color was dark brown and the grid showed the main color in a light block. The change color was light and the grid showed this in a dark color. This was killer for me in the beginning. Since I will choose the colors for the next slip stitch hat, I will make sure the color grid and the colors I pick make it easy for this pea brain to knit thinkless. High praise for Zara yarn. The hat has been ripped out several times. The Zara reknit beautifully and is naturally unknottable. Truth be told, this was a 46.00 hat. Well, I do have some lefto